He then cut a piece of skin off my left thigh and used that to cover the skin removed from my forearm. Had some trouble establishing a more comfortable distance. later I swam out to the reef, and saw a smaller silver colored barracuda, and it wanted nothing to do with me, so I figured the black one was truly aggressive. What is the lesson from all of this? The WHOI Engineer, who is nameless here to preserve his dignity, jumped straight back into the boat with a tiny foot long barracuda hanging from his butt, and still has the hole to prove it, but is reluctant to show it! It was quite a scare and an awesome sight just 50 yards from shore. In one particular spot I have been seeing this individual Great Barracuda. The barracuda now seem much larger, have different colors and their teeth look different. I live on an inland lake and a few years back there was a Pike that attacked someone (unprovoked)and bit a pretty good chunk put of the neighbor (who went to the hospital). We were like kids in disney land. He said, "We were out north of Big Pine, which is the island that we live on, feeling we were really safe. We later decided that they had been attracted to the shiny, unpainted dive tanks we were using. at first i thought it was a koi fish, freshwater, ah how dumb i was, it swam right under my legs, a dark shadowy figure of a tiger shark! Rule..no jewellery….watches included..Black still is shiny. I have had them swimming alongside me like this all of my life since I was a small boy in Jamaica, and I was always aware that they could bite me at will, but never did so, and so never worried about it. I’m relieved you came to no harm. I know this. I froze. Larson explained, "The hole -- it opened a hole right up in my side. With my flippers facing toward it, I kicked very forcefully in its direction and pushed myself away. Snorkeling wasn’t even a driver at the time. I personally know two people, one a hotel employee in the Maldives, and the other a submarine engineer at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, who jumped in the water and were immediately bitten by barracudas. Your post was very educational and I will be much more informed for future snorkeling trips. Around and around us. I scrambled out of the water, and he just sat there in the shallows. Just wanted to see the prettiest beaches. I still couldn’t touch bottom, but it wasn’t the depth where I’d met him/her. The barracuda attack victim just before me, Paul Herring (no kidding, but he’s no shiny little fish!) One silver haired woman (I think from Pittsburgh) whom was also a nurse, was there assisting & her travel companions told us what happened after the fact & said she was pretty sure he would lose a few toes at best. It was the largest eyeball I’ve ever seen on a fish in person. There was no denying that urge. She said, "I had a towel, and I looked down and it was just completely saturated with blood, so I knew I was losing, you know, a lot of blood. I am an experienced diver and wear no jewelry all. See our presentation at the 2005 Association of Marine Laboratories of the Caribbean Conference in Curacao: http://globalcoral.org/BARRACUDA ATTACK.pdf. So i was given a chance to go. As a post script, it dawned on me that I was wearing a necklace. I have had many descriptions sent to me of people who were bitten around glittery necklaces, bracelets, finger rings, and mask reflections, or of barracudas that charged these objects and suddenly stopped just short of biting, sometimes only an inch or so away. My wife as well. Kits along the rocky side of Whitehouse Bay with my wife, youngest daughter and her husband, I pulled that Godzilla killer knife out for the first time as a defensive measure after being stalked by a great Barracuda for several minutes. Blood was gushing everywhere. Im in Puerto Morelos, a nice and calm town in the middle of Cancun and Playa del Carmen. In the early afternoon, I went out and started doing my thing right behind the condo. Barracuda wounds can be distinguished from those of a shark by the bite pattern. ", Hinojosa explained how it happened. 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Great article! Can you give me another advise? Each time, I’ve quietly gently swam back to shore… And found another beach. I have no doubt that she was just following me and saying in her way for me to get out of there because there was her territory. If the barracuda swam around or smashed through plan B was to dodge and stay away from the teeth. He spoke to Hinojosa on the phone. I am not afraid of barracudas but this one was not a normal size. 93-year-old Frank Martinez and 86-year-old Terry Martinez, who have been married for 63 years, were separated during their hospital stays. He told me that he was once wiggling his fingers with his palm facing forward, and a barracuda got very excited and prepared to charge him until he realized. The surgery involved several steps. It was unforgettable but terrifying experience (as I did not know if their ‘play’ would include pushing..). But they all said that if they were asked they would be forced to lie, because if they told the truth they would immediately lose their licenses to operate. But cuts from the outer teeth (Barracudas have a couple rows of teeth) running the whole length of that finger showed that had it gotten me an inch or so further over I would have lost all my fingers. First published on January 17, 2011 / 8:18 AM. My estimate was that he was 4 to 5 ft long. Jon Wertheim reports. Maybe they’re protecting their territory from a seemingly large new fish (divers)……. I knew it was a second chest wound, and it just was really serious." There was a 6+foot barracuda that lived under the pier and people fed it nightly. (Long Island, New York). All, about 5 feet in length. I was in a sitting position legs stretched in front and arms moving to keep me floating in position. 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